Across the Ages
by Freyr 'L'Ance Ryter
Summary: A Cloud Strife and Claire 'Lightning' Farron story: Two heroes shall meet in the shadow of Yggdrasil and an adventure to reunite with each other shall span not only time and space, but universes as well. This is the story of the Lone Wolf and the Rose. On hiatus. Lost USB containing all my stories. Need to find it.
1. Under Yggdrasil We Meet

Across the Ages

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**Author's Notes:**

**Pairing: Cloud Strife of Final Fantasy VII and Claire 'Lightning' Farron of Final Fantasy XIII**

**Setting: A rift in space-time connecting Nibelheim with Bodhum, two places separated by nearly two-thousand years.**

**Warning: Rather fluffy first chapter. Do not read unless you want to suffocate from the fluff. There are also a lot of Final Fantasy references and Norse mythology references.**

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**Envoy: This story is part of something called 'Project Odyssey' that I have initiated. I can't say anymore, only the fact that a lot of stories will intertwine, leading up to the release of the story under 'Project Odyssey'. This will take at least a few years to get all the data together and right. So please, be patient.**

**Cloud: You know some people speculate if Lightning is my descendant right?**

**Envoy: And?**

**Cloud: *shrugs* Just sayin'. Oh, hey Light.**

**Lightning: I hate that all I am is just a recycled character design and that people bash on me for it. Damn you Tetsuya Nomura.**

**Cloud: *pats Lightning's shoulder and hugs her before releasing her* It's alright, what did I say? Don't listen to others, alright?**

**Lightning: But it's so frustrating that people see us as brother and sister sometimes or as cousins. And there as so few who even try to put us together. *growls* Why the hell did I have to meet you? Why the hell did I let you past my barriers? Why the hell did I fall for you? *she suddenly pulls him back into a hug and buries her face in his chest and silently sobs***

**Cloud: *sigh* Envoy, could you… give us a moment please?**

**Envoy: Very well. *Cloud nods and picks up Lightning bridal style and carries her off with him* While their talking, let's start the story.**

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***side note* Cloud is 7 right now and Claire is 6.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything mentioned in here.**

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**Chapter 1: Under Yggdrasil We Meet**

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_A boy from nearly two-thousand years into the past meets a girl who shares a fate similar to his on the falling star. Though they are separated by time and space, their hearts reach out towards one another as children; as young adults fighting for the gods; and as grown people when the worlds collide when a man schemes to ignite a war of mystical swords. The god slayer of the cold, windy mountains and the light that flashes in the storms above a meteor shall meet, and their destinies shall be intertwined._

_She waits for her fellow soldier in the city in the sky and he journeys through time to meet her once more._

_This is the story of the Hero of Midgar, Slayer of Gods, and Lone Wolf: Cloud Strife and the Rose among the Soldiers, Guardian of her Home and Summoner of the Splitting Sword: Claire 'Lightning' Farron._

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A young child with spikey blonde hair, a pale yet somehow tanned skin, cyan eyes garbed in the clothing of the people of Nibelheim, consisting of a blue shirt, brown pants, and boots stared up into the sky and shielded his eyes as rain fell upon Gaia.

Though it was always rainy in the Nibelheim region, the rain was usually cold and stinging; though this rain was warm and soothing as it hit his skin. He didn't know how far he had wandered from Nibelheim due to the fact that he was standing in a grassy plain with numerous Midgar Wild Roses and other flowers dotting the landscape. The young boy had just wandered around in his free time and his feet had somehow carried him all the way here.

His eyes darted back and forth as he tried to find a landmark or something so he could estimate his distance from his home. His eyes widened though when he saw his town of Nibelheim almost two miles away. The young boy twisted his head around and gazed at the wide plain that somehow appeared out of nowhere on this barren mountain.

'_This place is only seen by those chosen by fate.'_

The young boy's face turned to shock as he heard someone, or something, speaking to him.

'_Do not fear young cub. You are safe.'_

"Where am I?" the blonde child asked.

'_You are in The Garden of Midgard young cub.'_

"The Garden… of Midgard?" the child repeated.

'_Indeed you are.'_

The child gazed in wonder at the garden as he wandered it. His eyes marveled at the beauty all around him; beautiful Midgar Wild Roses, Light's Hope, Rebellious Roses, Onion Chrysanthemums –ironically having the best smell-, Wind's Journeyers, Esper Tulips, Galbana Lilies, Gaia's Heart, White and Black Tulips, Lion Lilies, Magick Daises and Fayth Dreams all swayed as one in the gentle breeze that followed the soothing storm. Nearby, three babbling brooks could be heard, their calming waters splashing soundlessly. In the middle of the garden, surrounded by nearly millions of the twelve flowers, stood a massive tree with a wide trunk, green leaves and flowering lotuses that towered high above the highest peaks of the Nibel Mountains.

'_That is Yggdrasil, the World Ash Tree, the Guardian of All Realms.'_

"Yggdrasil," the name left the boy's lips and carried to the wind. The tree swayed slightly as it heard its name called by one of the few chosen. From near one of its roots, a wolf cub trotted out from its shelter and cautiously, if not timidly, approached the young blonde boy. When the cub stopped in front of the boy, it sat on its hind legs and allowed its tongue to loll out of its mouth and then barked at the boy with a friendly look in its eyes. The boy observed the wolf cub before him and noted that it was a Nibel Timber Wolf with its fur a dull grey color and on its forehead a patch of white fur in the shape of a two triangles stacked atop one another. A smile graced the boy's lips and a smile in the cub's eyes shined through to the blonde. The boy laughed as he bent down slightly to pet the cub on its head and giggled uncontrollably as his hand was licked.

'_The young cub's name is Fenrir, and he shall be your guardian from now on.'_

"Fenrir," the blonde repeated once more. The wolf cub barked once more and ran around in a circle and looked at his new charge. The boy smiled at the wolf and petted it once more. Fenrir pushed his head closer to the child's hand and growled contently. His ears suddenly perked up when he heard something coming from the other side of Yggdrasil. Fenrir barked at his new charge and ran to the other side of the World Tree, his charge not far behind him.

On the other side, both Fenrir and the boy stopped as two figures came into their field of vision. Sitting with her back against the side of a brown Mustang with a white patch of fur in the shape of a diamond on its snout, not far from the World Tree, was a young girl with pale pink hair that hung down her left shoulder. She was garbed in a white button up blouse and a tanned, brown skirt that reached mid-thigh. Oddly enough, her clothes do not seem soaked – the boy looked at his own clothes and realizes he is dry as well-, even though the gentle rain fell upon her. Her bright and shining sky blue eyes were focused on the Midgar Wild Rose that she held in her right hand.

The young boy just stood there with Fenrir beside him and stared at the girl so focused on the beautiful rose in her hand and marveled at her. He had always thought that his mother was the most beautiful thing in the world; but now, he had to correct himself in his assumptions. To him, her focused gaze and slightly pouting face seemed irresistibly cute and endearing. He now knew how his mom felt whenever he pouted and understood why. His eyes stayed on her figure and saw a smile cross her lips as she pushed back some of the hair on the right side of her face and placed the Midgar Wild Rose behind her ear.

'_Do not worry; all flowers are without their flaws in the Garden.'_

The boy nodded, having almost shouted to tell the girl that the Midgar Wild Rose had many thorns. He then remembered that she was holding it rather tightly between her fingers and rebukes himself for not paying attention to the other details of the girl other than her eyes and cute face.

A neigh soon broke through the sound of the slow rain as the Mustang nudged the girl in the shoulder. The girl turned to the horse and the horse in turn turned its head towards where the boy and wolf cub were. The girls eyes widened suddenly as she gazed upon the blonde and then her cheeks flushed a color close to that of her hair. The wolf cub barked beside the boy and then turned its gaze to the boy. The boy looked down at Fenrir and then back at the blushing girl sitting against the Mustang. Fenrir then trotted from its charge's side toward the girl, the boy following in a subdued pace.

The girl stood up and clasped her hands in front of her body as the boy came closer and as her blush grew deeper. The boy then suddenly stopped about a foot away from the girl and flushed a bright red as he observed the girl in front of him, his head scratching the back of his head.

The tension between the two was noticeable, but not stifling. It was the type where it's two people meeting each other once more.

"Hi I'm," they both said at the same time, breaking the silence and shattering the tension between them. Their eyes locked when they did so and the two laughed uncontrollably at their own shyness and that of the other's. His laugh sounded rather cute to the pinkette while her giggle sounded melodious to the blonde.

"Err… My name's Cloud, Cloud Strife," the blonde said timidly.

"Hi, Cloud. My name's Claire Farron," the pinkette answered back.

Soon, a companionable silence fell between the two as they gazed at each other's eyes. The two blushed once more and looked in different directions with a small smile gracing their lips. The two caught each other's eyes once more and Cloud chuckled as Claire giggled. Though they both were shy people, the two felt that this person could understand them the most.

The blonde's eyes soon land at the Mustang and marvel at it. Claire's eyes followed to where the blonde was staring and giggled behind her hand.

"Her name's Epona," the pinkette responded to Cloud's silent question. Her eyes soon found the Nibel Timber Wolf sitting beside the blonde and asked, "What's this guy's name."

The blonde grinned and petted the wolf's head as he answered Claire. "His name's Fenrir."

Claire then gestured to Epona and then soon sat back down, resting her back against Epona's side. Cloud soon took a seat in the grass beside the pinkette and scooted a bit closer to Claire until he was a comfortable distance near her. His cyan eyes met her sky blue ones and then his gazed turned towards the area between them back to her eyes. Her eyes said 'Maybe.'

That was enough for Cloud.

The then sat in silence and drank in the presence of just having someone else with them in this beautiful garden. Neither paid attention to the fact that the calm storm had stopped and that the sun's warm rays began to shine down upon them.

"I've never seen you 'round here. Where are you from?" That question that had escaped from Cloud's lips had soon exploded outward as both the blonde and Claire began to give information about their home, their respective families, and their lives.

Both had come to realize that they had only one parent left, both having only their mothers around. They both also had the same dream of wanting to become a soldier, he a SOLDIER in Midgar and she a Guardian Corps member of Cocoon. They both also found out that even though they were shy, they were both strong people at heart who would protect others and because of that trait they were picked on sometimes.

As they talked with one another, both did not realize that they had scooted closer to one another until Claire was resting between Cloud's legs, his back resting against Epona's side, with her head leaning back into his chest, Fenrir curled up in her lap, growling contently as the pinkette stroked his fur.

Both did not realize this though, they were times apart from one another.

Cloud had believed that Bodhum was just on the other side of the Nibel Mountains and reasoned that the only reason why he never heard of it was because her never ventured far from Nibelheim. Claire had reasoned that Nibelheim was that village that wasn't far off from Bodhum, nestled in the nearby unnamed mountain range.

As the hours wore on, the two sat there in the field of flowers, under the shadow of Yggdrasil with Cloud stroking Claire's hair as the pinkette sighed contently with her head resting on his chest, the two realized that they would soon have to depart from the company of the other. When twilight fell upon the Garden of Midgard, the two realized their time was up.

"I… I had fun," Claire mumbled.

Cloud smiled down at the pinkette. "I had fun too."

Both soon felt a warm spreading forth from their hearts, soon spreading too their entire bodies. A smile spread across both their lips as they felt a second warmth fall upon them.

Cloud saw that Claire was a girl he could feel comfortable around because she seemed as soft spoken, shy and kind as he was… that, and the fact that she seemed to not blow up at him for just standing there staring at her face as she sat looking at the Midgar Wild Rose. He felt that he had won something because of that due to the fact that it meant he was something special to her now. She had told him that if he hadn't been who he was, she would have just shouted at them to stop stalking her and buzz off. When he had asked why, she told him because she felt that he had captivated her as well.

Claire saw that Cloud was a boy who didn't make fun of her because of her exotic hair color and the fact that she was always so quiet around them and never responded, unless they went too far in bullying her. She also felt something akin to pride when she realized she drew the attention of the boy and had Cloud captivated with her own normal self. She felt somewhat guilty when Cloud asked when she was going to shout at him for staring at her, but had quickly told him she didn't because he captivated her as well.

"Will I… see you again?" Claire asked as she stared into Cloud's eyes.

'_Tell her you will.'_

"Of course," the blonde smiled. He did not realize he was telling a lie.

Claire smiled up at the blonde and then sat back up and stared at him before hugging him fiercely. Cloud was caught off guard for a second before he wrapped his arms around her frame. He soon felt her shake. He pushed her away a bit and saw tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Concern was laced in his voice.

"It's just," she sniffled, "It's just you're my first friend. And I don't want to lose you."

"You're my first friend too," Cloud whispered, "You won't lose me. You won't alright?"

"I know I won't." She furiously swiped at her tears trying to fend them off. "I just have a bad feeling that I won't see you for a long time." Her tears came back in full force once more.

The young blonde's heart felt like it was being ripped out as he watched his friend cry her heart out. He contemplated what to do and then remembered seeing a teenaged boy and girl do this. Cloud pulled her back into a hug and slowly stroked her back and spoke words of comfort for her. When her body stopped shaking, the blonde pulled back from her and, rather timidly, place a chaste kiss on her lips. He then quickly pulled back and realized that Claire was blushing and soon felt his own cheeks flush.

"What was that?" Claire murmured, touching her lips.

"I ummm… saw an older boy do that for an older girl when she was crying and I thought it would work too."

Claire smiled at Cloud and then quickly pecked him on the lips before pulling back just as quickly. "Thank you, Cloud." The smile that graced the pinkette's lips was soon matched on the blonde's.

The boy nodded to his friend. "I'll see you again."

"You better," she smirked.

Cloud was soon nudged by Fenrir as Epona gently nudged Claire. The Nibel Timber Wolf looked expectedly at its charge as it nudged something on the ground. The blonde blinked owlishly before picking up the object on the ground, finding out that it was a ring. On the ring was a Nibel Timber Wolf with a circle hanging from its mouth. Cloud looked back at Fenrir and saw the wolf cub nod at him and returned the nod. The blonde turned back to see a necklace dangling from Claire's hand. The main piece of the necklace was in the shape of a lightning bolt with two diamonds beside it: one black and one gold and a diamond and ruby combo on the bottom of the bolt.

The two looked at each other expectantly before Claire scooted closer to Cloud and unhooked the chain holding the necklace before hooking it back in behind the blonde's neck before placing another kiss on his cheek. The blonde boy blushed before motioning to the ring in his hand. The pinkette nodded and held out her hand, unknowingly holding out her left hand. Cloud soon slipped the wolf ring onto Claire's left ring finger and placed a kiss on her cheek as well. Both did not realize that the left ring finger meant a proposal or marriage, but both were ignorant to that bit of knowledge.

Soon, the two were standing a distance from one another, smiles having graced both their lips once more with Fenrir sitting beside Cloud and Epona standing beside Claire.

"Goodbye Claire! We'll meet here again tomorrow!" Cloud shouted, waving his hand good-bye.

"Goodbye! We'll meet again Cloud!" Claire shouted back.

And then the two departed to their separate homes, their hearts filled with memories of their friend, the time they spent in each other's company, the warmth of the time and the four kisses that they shared.

'_What is this feeling in my heart… Claire?'_

'_What am I feeling… Cloud?'_

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Both would never know that their paths would only cross after years apart until they were separated by time and space.

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Claire clutched the letter in her hands, the paper threatening to rip to pieces, as tears fell from her eyes. Her mother had given this letter to her when she told her she had met a boy named Cloud Strife and said that it was in their family for generations, going back as far as the time on the former Gaia turned Pulse. Her mother told her that it came from the great Hero of Midgar, Cloud Strife, a person dead since two thousand years.

_To my first friend and love,_

_Claire Farron,_

_If you're reading this, then you found out that I am from nearly two thousand years in the past. I'm sorry I lied to you. I didn't know I was lying anyway._

_Please don't cry Claire, we'll meet again. Our paths have already crossed four times since the last you saw me. The next time we meet, we will be fighting for gods and I will be on the side of Chaos – God of Discord. You will have to stop me from facing him if you are to save me from my fate. Because of that altered destiny, we will fight side by side as we should have. The next time we shall meet, I shall be wrapped once more in darkness. Save me. The last time we shall meet, my nemesis will have returned. Fight with me once more._

_Now, I am already waiting trough time until I shall awaken, as per orders of Soren, so please… wait for me my love._

_Your first friend and love,_

_Cloud Strife_

_P.S. I guess me placing that ring on your left ring finger means we're fiancés now, huh?_

By the time Claire had read over the letter ten times, a small bitter-sweet smile had crossed her lips.

"Cloud," she murmured to the winds, "I'll be here."

…

"Mom, what's a fiancé?"

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_A meeting that bridged the expanse of time and space has come to a close on their home world._

_They shall meet once more, under the banner of Harmony and Discord._

_The Lone Wolf and The Rose among the Soldiers shall dance once more._

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**Author's Notes:**

**Envoy: …Weird. Well, better than them meeting unexpectedly and then soon falling in love. I did it like this so that way there is more romantic development or something like that. Also, I try not to have my romances overly girly and unbelievable.**

**Soren: If you have a question why the events occurred like they did: I manipulated the universe to allow this impossible meeting to occur.**

**Cloud: Weird take on how we met huh Light?**

**Lightning: I think it's kinda… *mumbles something***

**Cloud: *smiles* If you'll excuse us Envoy, Soren. *takes Lightning in arms once more, receiving a startled 'Eep!' in response, and jumps off***

**Soren: …**

**Envoy: …**

**Soren: *smirks* Bow-chick-a-wow-wow.**

**Envoy: *facepalm* Leave 'em be.**

**Soren: *shrug* Review please!**

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**Light's Hope: Final Fantasy (Warrior of Light): **A white flower with a yellow core.

**Rebellious Rose: Final Fantasy II (Firion): **A red rose that grows anywhere

**Onion Chrysanthemum: Final Fantasy III (Luneth): **A red chrysanthemum with a purple core

**Black and White Lily: Final Fantasy IV (Cecil): **A lily with white and black petals

**Wind's Journeyer: Final Fantasy V (Bartz): **A dandelion with petals that break into the wind

**Esper Tulip: Final Fantasy VI (Terra): **A purple tulip with an otherworldly glow

**Midgar Wild Rose: Final Fantasy VII and XII (Cloud and Lightning): **A simple red rose, whose beauty is in the eyes of the beholder

**Lion Lily: Final Fantasy VIII (Squall): **A lily resilient to all that grows in the loneliest places

**Gaia's Heart: Final Fantasy IX (Zidane): **A flower in the shape of a heart, blue in color

**Fayth Dream: Final Fantasy X (Tidus): **A blue chrysanthemum with fireflies dancing about it

**Magick Daisy: Final Fantasy XI (Prishe): **An orange daisy with magical healing properties

**Galbana Lily: Final Fantasy XII (Vaan): **A lily that grows in the Estersands of Dalmasca

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**Fenrir: **Wolf that killed Odin, Son of Loki, Unslayable Wolf in Norse Mythology

**Epona: **Goddess of the horses in Norse Mythology

**Yggdrasil: **The World Ash Tree that holds up the nine realms in Norse Mythology


	2. To Save a Life

Across the Ages

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**Author's Notes:**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything.**

**Soren: …**

**Envoy: …**

**Soren: …**

**Envoy: … *twitch***

**Soren: Thank me you censored that out or else we'd have to get a lot of brain bleach for the people reading this.**

**Envoy: *looks at reader* I'll let you guess three times what I just censored out. If you guessed right, I'll… do something.**

**Soren: *smirks as Envoy twitches again***

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**Note: The costumes that each of the Final Fantasy characters corresponds with the time period they were pulled from. Remember, all heroes, due to the fact that they lost the last cycle, Cycle 10, have lost all memories of the previous cycle and the memories from their world. Also, all events that happened in Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Dissidia Duodecim: Final Fantasy will happen, but the dialogue shall be different due to the fact that all events afterward are AU and must be considered non-canon.**

**The following lists the characters with their clothing from the time they are mentioned.**

**Tifa: Just after Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core**

**Vaan: Half way through his adventure in Final Fantasy XII, in Giruvegan**

**Laguna: His time as President of Esthar**

**Kain: during Final Fantasy IV**

**Yuna: Between Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2**

**Lightning: Right after defeating her Eidolon, Odin**

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**Note: Cloud's SOLDIER uniform is the SOLDIER 1****st**** Class uniform from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. The Midgar Ruins is from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Yes I know it conflicts with the time that characters from that world are pulled from. But I'll explain it in length later. Also, some of the dialogue is from Dissidia: Duodecim while some is original dialogue. And also, maps from different worlds are separated from one another, with Order's Sanctuary near the mid-west of the Southern hemisphere and Edge of Madness near western part of the northern hemisphere. Places that are near each other in their original worlds are also separated from one another as well. I'm also using the Onion Knight's 1****st**** alternate costume, the one that makes him look like Luneth. And yes, it's going to be Luneth instead of the Onion Knight.**

**Note: This story is rated T for teen, meaning that you are going to have to accept the fact that there is cursing in this story. If you want to keep your virgin, unpolluted minds intact, go somewhere else, because I may add M rated romance scenes in later if I want to. Also, Cloud and Claire will be OOC around one another, so deal with it.**

**WARNING! WARNING! This chapter contains heavy doses of fluff, and reunion between lost lovers will cause heavy wistful sighing and longing! Read at your own risk!**

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**Chapter 2: To Save a Life**

**Cycle Twelve of the War between Cosmos and Chaos**

A punch was thrown, then an uppercut kick and soon crystal shattered. The sound of a gun roared, destroying several other crystals as well, followed by the sound of a lance impaling the ground and a dragon roaring. A flash and soon a spear was replaced by a crossbow and arrows rained down, tearing through the false imitations. Thunder then roared as two massive swords whirled through the air, rending crystal to dust.

The raven haired female brawler garbed in a white –very tight- shirt and black biker shorts panted slightly as she cooled down from the fight. "Did we… get them all?"

The raven haired gunner wearing only khaki pants, light brown sandals and a light blue button up shirt nodded slightly before looking around. "I think that's the last of those munchkins… for now."

The lancer garbed in armor in the likeness of a dragon shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "They're manikins Laguna, not munchkins."

"Eh, tomato, tomato," was the reply from the tanned skinned platinum blonde wearing only an iron vest and slacks.

"Tomato, to-what-o Vaan?" was the gunner's skeptical question.

"Never mind Laguna," Vaan sighed.

"Well, at least that's it with those crystal beings for now." The brunette with mismatched blue and green eyes garbed in a blue skirt and white kimono top looked around before dismissing her summoning staff.

"Where are we anyway?" the lancer asked.

"The Thunder Plains," the mismatched eyed summoner gasped. "I remember this place from my world when I was on my journey with…"

"Tidus was his name… correct Yuna?" the dragoon asked.

The brunette nodded solemnly before looking off into the distance.

"Don't let your guard down guys," was the answer from pinkette garbed in the modified Guardian Corps sergeant uniform. "We may have another ambush up ahead and I don't want any of you dying on me because we got careless."

"Wow, did I just hear that Lightning was worried about us?" the Dalmascan Sky Pirate asked.

"Yes Vaan, Lightning is human like the rest of us," the President of Esthar replied. Even though the pinkette knew the two were just teasing her, she would allow it due to her pride… that and the fact she would only let _him_ do that… if she ever saw him again that is.

"Shut it you two," the twenty-year old Guardian Corps sergeant snapped. "This is no time for games, we need to get back to Order's Sanctuary and regroup with the other warriors of Cosmos."

"Yikes!" Vaan muttered.

The sudden rumbling coming from the west cut all conversation, alerting all six that they had company incoming; and by the looks of it, a whole horde of the crystal manikins were coming their way.

"Damn," the sergeant muttered under her breath. "Everyone!" she shouted catching her other five companions' attentions. "Split up and meet back at Edge!" Nods came from the other five as they ran off in different directions, hoping that they could confuse their enemies.

* * *

"Hmmm? Where… am I?" Tifa muttered to herself as she gazed around and wandered the ruins of a rather large tower and several other buildings. To her, the ruins seemed rather… familiar. She couldn't exactly put her finger on it, but this place seemed to be an integral part of her past… she just… couldn't remember it at all.

She had run her nearly an hour ago after separating from her friends and wandered into this piece of a world. Unbeknownst to her, she was walking around in the ruins of the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company tower located at the heart of the metropolis created by said power company called Midgar: a shard of her world that had been dragged into the conflict of the gods.

A deep, dark chuckle echoed through the whole ruins causing the raven haired brawler to suddenly take up a fighting stance. "What's this?" the deep voice asked. "Ah, a warrior of Cosmos I see?" All of a sudden, Tifa ducked under an out-of-nowhere sword slash– was that a six foot long sword? -and back flipped a good distance away to see a figure lower his katana down to a neutral stance.

"Who are you?" the barkeep and owner of 7th Heaven asked with veiled curiosity. The figure, a tall, slender man garbed in black leather pants, black trench coat with a tail that reached his ankles, a hint of a belt seen only by a strange emblem sticking out from the bottom opening of the trench coat and silver pauldrons upon his shoulders, smirked slyly at the woman as his green, slit, cat-like eyes stared into the brown- almost red- eyes of the brawler, causing a shiver to run up her spine. His long silver hair and two bangs framing his face danced with the small wind that blew through the ruins of Midgar. A flyer suddenly blew through towards their area and slowly drifted down to the ground between the two.

Sephiroth's eyes never left his prey's, even when the flyer drifted in–between their gaze, breaking it only for a moment. When the flyer hit the ground, he vanished from the brawler's field of vision, causing her eyes to widen. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she dodged to the right, behind some rubble, as vertical shockwave after vertical shockwave sliced past the area where she once stood.

The cover she was behind soon was reduced to pebbles as numerous slashes tore through the giant slab of concrete and steel. The force behind the explosion of concrete sent Tifa flying some twenty feet forward, but the brawler righted herself in mid-air and landed on the ground in a crouch fast enough to see the enemy swordsman prepare a downward slash with his long katana. Tifa dodge-rolled to the left from her crouch right when the swordsman executed his attack, and then suddenly shot forward right then when his guard was down for a second and opened up with a foot-sweep attack followed by her Somersault. The brawler's eyes widened when the attack only sent him skidding back ten feet, but then had to put her guard up when he suddenly shot forward and bombarded her with numerous slashes.

"_Humph. Come and try."_

Though Sephiroth hadn't seen that second move coming, he had barely felt the kick that sent him skidding, even if it was ten feet. He smirked when he received a flash from of memories from his past in his original world. The names 'Genesis', 'Angeal', and 'Zack' popped up foremost in those groups of memories. Sephiroth felt so elated, that he had to thank the warrior of Cosmos with a gift: his sword Masamune!

Tifa felt numerous cuts appear all over her exposed arms and legs, and even some of her own clothing tear slightly. They didn't hurt that much, but there sure were a lot of them! Her eyes widened even further when she saw the swordsmen do a three-sixty clockwise on the ball of his left foot send numerous more slashes and stabs her way, causing her to lift into the air before he did another counter-clockwise three-sixty on the ball of his left foot and attacking again. She soon felt air rushing past her and saw the swordsman kick off the ground, his eyes dead set to kill her. The glowing purple aura in his six-foot long katana didn't reassure Tifa either.

The brawler looked behind her and saw a flagpole incoming to her left and knew what she had to do.

If she didn't, she'd be a goner.

Right when the flagpole came into her range, Tifa grabbed ahold of it and rotated around it for a second, building up her momentum and shot off at the swordsman, preparing her Meteor Crusher for the mysterious swordsman.

Sephiroth had prepared his signature move Octoslash while in mid-air, and would undoubtedly win the fight if it weren't for the fact that a blinding light came out of nowhere right in front of him. He suddenly cursed himself for not realizing he had suffered tunnel-vision while chasing after the warrior of Cosmos. Soon he felt a powerful punch -not powerful enough to truly damage him though- impact his face, and then a rapid flurry of kicks and punches bombard his body before a somersault kick sent him flying into a nearby building.

"_Angeal has betrayed us as well."_

The brawler exhaled slightly before jumping to a nearby building, then jumping to another one and then another one. She ricocheted back and forth from one side of the forest of building to another allowing the power of her descent to lesser after a time before she reached the ground. Tifa exhaled sharply, but ducked once more as a slash soon cut through the air where her neck once was. She pivoted once on the ball of her right foot and performed an upward kick towards the mysterious swordsman's body. Her eyes widened when her foot was caught in the right hand of the silver haired swordsman.

"_Whatever happens, I may abandon Shin-Ra."_

"_Mother… I… I had an epiphany."_

"_No! Impossible!"_

Sephiroth smirked slightly as he held the warrior of Cosmos' outstretched leg and then briefly locked eyes with her before harshly tossing her leg to the side into a slab of concrete nearby, though in Sephiroth's opinion that throw was actually a lazy toss. The raven-haired brawler yelped when she hit the hard surface and slid down it, before standing on shaky legs.

"That's good," there was slight elation in his voice, but barely registered to anyone other than him. "I have regained some of my memories from my own world now. It seems… that we share it… you and I."

Tifa's voice was shaky as she spoke, her ribs having been cracked from the force of the impact. "Memories… regained? What-what are you talking about?"

"It matters not to you," Sephiroth remarked offhandedly. "But I might as well… humor you.

"In this war, those called by the gods Chaos and Cosmos have their memories retained from their world when they enter this war. The memories they have influence what side they choose: harmony… or discord. Sometimes, the fighters change sides depending on the events that occur in their world and retain their memories… that is, if their previous side had won the last conflict."

"The previous… conflict? What are you talking-?"

Sephiroth interrupted her before she could get enough of that question through. "As I was saying, those that had lost the previous conflict would lose all their memories, and the victors would retain theirs of the previous conflicts they had won... A brief respite would occur and memories from each person's own world would be pulled into the bodies of all warriors and the lines redrawn between the fighters due to those memories."

Tifa's eyes widened considerably. "Wait! That means you were-" She stopped her sentence when Masamune was pointed at her.

"-a warrior of Cosmos?" Sephiroth answered with a smirked. "Yes. The memories I have regained are good… but I feel that there are more of them buried underneath. I wonder," he whispered quietly as he regarded the warrior from his world with cold detached eyes, "what would happen if I… cut you down? Would it serve to reveal more memories to me?" He chuckled darkly, "It's worth a shot."

"Sephiroth, stop!" a voice cut through the air, both the one spoken to and Tifa turned their heads see a man with spiky blonde hair, powerful cyan eyes, garbed in a dark blue, almost black, turtle neck with two black pauldrons on his shoulders, black pants held up by a belt with a symbol matching that of the one on Sephiroth's belt and brown combat boots with a large sword as tall as he was, close to being a Wutain zanba tō, strapped upon his back running up to them.

"Ah," Sephiroth said plainly, looking at the Buster Sword wielder out the corner of his eye. This was the man that dared to defy his Mother and him, the Chosen One. Sephiroth idly remembered that this woman – Tifa was it? - was tied to Cloud somehow, maybe if he made her suffer… yes. "Cloud; a little late to the party, aren't you." He pointed Masamune at Tifa, and the brawler cringed as the katana was held closer.

"No!" Cloud Strife shouted as he drew his Buster Sword.

Sephiroth's eyes turned to the blonde. "Raising a blade against me?" The silver haired swordsman made a noise of contempt in the back of his throat. "Very well, you leave me little choice." Quick as a flash Sephiroth turned on his heel and sent numerous unseen slashes and stabs at the blonde who in turn blocked them with his massive sword. Sephiroth's eyebrow rose slightly as he regarded that particular sword for a second. The sword of his former friend, Angeal, and his friend's former student, Zack, was now in the hands of Cloud; ironic, because the last two wielders of it also became his enemies.

"Tifa, run!" Cloud shouted. The brawler didn't waste a second with a response and instead shot off to a safe location as fast as her injured body could.

Sephiroth could care less where his previous prey went; he could hunt her down later. For now, he would get his revenge on the blonde imitation-SOLDIER before him.

The silver haired swordsman soon unleashed a flurry of slashes on the fake SOLDIER 1st Class, all of which were blocked by the blonde's giant sword. Cloud's sword soon flew in a downward slashing arc, the blade emitting a light blue color, and released a bright beam of light that impacted and countered the rest of the slashes. The blonde's body soon glowed orange as he attacked his opponent when his guard was down with a Cross Slash.

The Buster Sword crashed down against Masamune, sparks flying as the two weapons clashed and pushed against one another. Sephiroth's eyes widened only a micrometer as he felt the power behind that first slash. It was strong, stronger than Angeal's, Genesis', and Zack's. But that was impossible. Cloud was a normal human, with no SOLDIER enhancements, while Zack was a human with Mako infusion, and Angeal and Genesis were monsters created just like him.

The Buster Sword soon left Masamune and performed a very quick upward diagonal slash, followed by another downward diagonal slash. Sephiroth grit his teeth in anger as he fought against the attacks from the blonde. He thought that he wouldn't have to use the full extent of his powers against Cloud, but he was wrong. This power was close to rivaling his own! A powerful upward slash from Cloud almost knocked Masamune out of his grip. But when Sephiroth thought that was done, his eyes narrowed as Cloud swung his massive sword in a sweeping slash, the force having enough power to send the Silver General flying back a good one hundred feet.

Sephiroth righted himself in mid-air and kicked off the building he was supposed to collide with and quickly flew back right at Cloud. The Silver General feinted with a several fervent blows, the same attacks he used before, and when Cloud dodged by jumping upward, he attacked with his signature upward slash, Heaven's Light, sending the imitation SOLDIER flying. The Silver General soon landed on the ground before kicking off and chasing after the blonde.

Cloud cursed himself when he saw the white, ethereal glow of Sephiroth's katana, and was just barely able to get the Buster Sword up to guard himself as the upward slash set him flying fifty feet into the air. The Lone Wolf righted himself in mid-air and countered each of the attacks that came from the 'son' of Jenova but wasn't able to get his guard up fast enough as Sephiroth sent him flying back and skidding across the rooftops of Midgar.

Cloud's hand glowed a bright green as he summoned forth Comet, and then combined it with his Meteor Rain at called down numerous comets with his Meteorian and aimed them at Sephiroth just as the Silver General came into range.

Sephiroth landed on the rooftops a few buildings away from and ran to the left, barely outrunning the comets. One landed just close enough to him to destroy the roof he was on and send him into the air. He was unworried as he flipped in the air and landed on the building Cloud was on, and raised his katana just in time to block Cloud's sword charge, but didn't expect the very quick upward slash, getting sent upward into the air and the downward stab, but was able to minimize the damage by keeping his guard up. The blonde though wasn't done yet and came down rather quick and perform an upward slash from right in front of Sephiroth with all his might and sent the Silver General flying away once more.

Sephiroth righted himself just before he landed on the ground and skidded, before gently raising his Masamune and stopped the powerful downward slash from Cloud, dust kicking up into the air because of the power behind Cloud's attack. Sephiroth then pushed the imitation SOLDIER off of his katana with a counter slash. When Cloud landed back on the ground and prepared to attack once more, Sephiroth stopped him by raising his hand.

"That's enough for now." Masamune was dismissed from Sephiroth's hand, disappearing in a flurry of light. "There will be time later to take your life in trade for this betrayal." The Chosen One glared one last time at Cloud before turning around and taking two steps and disappearing into the air, darkness briefly shrouding him a second before.

Cloud sighed heavily before placing the Buster Sword on his back and allowing the super-magnet attached to his back to grab ahold of the massive sword.

"Hey." The blonde turned his head and saw Tifa jogging towards him from an alleyway. The brawler stopped just a few feet in front of him and bent down and placed her hands on her knees. When her breathing returned to normal, she stood back up to her height and smiled at the warrior of Chaos.

"Thanks for saving me back there." Her smile brightened.

"It's no big deal," Cloud mumbled

"No, really. I thought I was goner." Her eyes then regarded the man before her. "So, hey, my name's Tifa. You're one of Cosmos's warriors too, huh?"

"Actually, no," Cloud replied in the negative, "I'm on the other side."

Tifa's eyes widened when she heard that. "Wait, so you fought one of your allies?" was Tifa's perplexed question. "Why?"

Cloud shrugged in response to the raven haired woman's question. He didn't want to tell her the reason why she saved was because she was one of two childhood friends, and that he was finally doing what he should have done a long time ago. "I felt like it."

Tifa raised her brow in question at the blonde before her. "You… felt like it?"

"Yeah," Cloud nodded.

"Lemme get this straight; you rescue your enemies when the mood strikes you?"

"Something like that," Cloud muttered.

The brawler smiled slightly. "Guess it would make sense for warriors of Chaos to be a little unpredictable. Still surprises me, though." Tifa closed her eyes for a moment before opening them back up. "Ah! Speaking of which, you haven't told me your name."

The brawler's eyes widened when the blonde replied, "I'm Cloud."

"Cloud…" she murmured. The blonde looked away and regarded the sky above them, the dark smog covering the city and blocking out all light from reaching the ground. "Oh, sorry."

Silence fell upon the two and Tifa's eyes wandered over Cloud and soon fell upon a small object placed over his heart. When she squinted her eyes, she saw that it was the main piece of a necklace, the piece in the shape of a lightning bolt. Maybe Lightning knew him…

"So, Cloud. Are you-I mean- do we… know each other?" she started. "I can't remember much of anything from before… all this… But when I heard you name, I thought we might-"

Cloud read Tifa's mind before she finished that question and lied to protect her. "No. I've never met you before." The blonde cringed on the inside at the way his tone came off as.

Tifa frowned in response to the answer. "No, huh? Sorry, but a girl's gotta ask." She shook her head and turned around and walked a few paces before stopping, her back towards Cloud. "Anyway, thanks for saving my skin. The way you showed up and fought that guy off… it was a pretty cool thing to watch." She turned around and smiled at Cloud. "You were like a hero, charging in to save the girl."

It was ironic, because Cloud did that once before in the Nibelheim Mako Reactor, but not as a SODIER like he promised her when they were children.

She frowned once more as she regarded the blonde before her. "Cosmos and Chaos… Since you're one of Chaos's chosen warriors, I guess that means we'll have to fight each other eventually." Her tone was that of remorse, and her eyes held much sadness.

"I guess so."

"I," she paused as she clasped her hands behind her back, "I don't know if I can bring myself to think of you as an enemy."

"Well you sure better try." Again, his tone was cold once more when he replied. "Once you start second-guessing, you're done for. We're enemies, no matter how you look at it," Cloud said as he turned his eyes from the smog above them back to Tifa. "We have to fight."

Cloud turned on his heel and walked five paces before stopping and looking over his shoulder and regarded the woman. "But for now, you should head back and join your friends- before I have another change of heart." Tifa gasped and Cloud turned his eyes back to stare forward. "I'm not in a fighting mood today. Go- you should leave while you have the chance."

"Before you… change your mind?"

"Yes."

"Cloud? Will I see you again?" she whispered just loud enough for Cloud's Mako enhanced ears to hear.

"You will," was his simple reply. "But the next time we meet, will be as enemies… I won't go easy on you."

"Thanks for the warning," Tifa replied glumly. She paused for a moment before she said, "Cloud, that necklace around your neck… where'd you get it from?"

Cloud raised his hand and grasped the main piece of the necklace. "It was… a gift from a friend… Her name was Claire," he said as he stared into the sky.

"Where is she now?" Tifa asked.

"She's separated from me by two-thousand years," Cloud replied as he turned his eyes back to Tifa's and stared into her amber -almost crimson- eyes. "I'm still looking for her," he murmured.

The former Nibelheim native nodded once before turning and leaving this shard of land floating in the world of the gods.

'_Once your memories return, you'll lose the will to fight… just like I have. So… before that can happen, I have to act…'_

* * *

Nearly eight hours later, Tifa had joined her five other companions at Edge, having traversed through Gran Pulse, Alexandria, and Esthar and fighting off random monsters that had appeared in the realm of the gods. Twilight had already fallen over the area around Edge, and when Tifa had reached the camp her friends were settled in, night had already fallen. She didn't know where her friends were exactly at, but she followed the smoke that rose into the air, realizing her friends had most likely set up camp.

When she reached the camp, the young woman saw Vaan tending to food over the fire while Yuna and Laguna conversed with one another, while Lightning sat on one of the logs, her pouch placed beside, and tended to her Blaze Edge. Kain was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Kain?" Tifa asked, looking around.

"He's rummaging around looking for items," was the pinkette's reply.

"Tifa, what took you so long?" Vaan asked as he rotated a Behemoth thigh on a spit over the campfire their group had created, his eyes never leaving the spit. "We've been waiting here for two hours. Well, I have. Lightning was the first here and she's been waiting for ten seven hours."

"I got attacked," Tifa started as she took a seat on one of the logs around the fire.

"A manikin was it?" Kain asked as he emerged from one of the buildings caring an armful of antidotes, potions, elixirs and golden needles and other healing items in his arms before dumping them on a place mat. He regarded an elixir in his hand and tossed it over to Vaan who caught it and pocketed it. He then divided up the items in six equal shares before taking a seat on the log across from Tifa. "I had faced a rather difficult opponent of a manikin before rendezvousing here five hours ago."

Tifa shook her head and stared into the fire, and recoiled in shock when she saw Sephiroth's face through the flames and a burning village around her.

"I'm coming for you," Sephiroth said in a dark tone before turning around and walking away. Soon the flames reached a height when suddenly a hand fell on her shoulder.

"Ah!" she jumped up nearly a foot in the air, and drew all of her companions' attention.

"Hey Tifa, you okay?" Laguna asked, worried because his comrade had jumped the moment he placed his hand on her shoulder to shake her back to reality.

"Sephiroth," she said suddenly.

"Who?" Lightning asked having just joined the conversation after her gunblade was cleaned and put away.

All five companions, Vaan, Yuna, Laguna, Kain and Lightning sat there around the campfire and listened to Tifa's tale about her journey to the Midgar Ruins, her encounter and defeat at the hands of Sephiroth and her subsequent rescue by the hands of a warrior of Chaos. They then listened to Tifa recall her world and the events that occurred in it.

"Why would a warrior of Chaos fight one of his own allies to save his enemy?" Lightning muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "That's just stupid."

"I think I know the reasons behind why Cloud saved me," Tifa said, turning her gaze to her lap.

"Cloud! Is he safe? Where is he now?" was the sudden outburst from Lightning's lips. She clapped both her hands over her mouth to cover up her outburst, her eyes widening due to the fact that she had an outburst of emotion when her childhood friend's name was uttered, but had already drawn her comrades' questioning gazes.

"You know Cloud too?" Tifa asked, her eyes turning towards Lightning's.

The former Guardian Corps sergeant nodded her head and pulled her left glove off her left hand to reveal a grey ring with a wolf motif on it, a circle held in its mouth on her left ring finger.

"I didn't know you were married Light," Yuna said excitedly. The pinkette smiled softly in return, and all her comrades saw a more beautiful side of her. Her smile had given a softer look to her features and the way her eyes regarded the ring on her finger with such tenderness, her friends had no doubts that Lightning was indeed a woman underneath all her barriers.

"I'm not married… not yet anyway," Claire 'Lightning' Farron said. She turned her gaze back to her friends, and even though her eyes lost a bit of their luster, she still had that same look in her eyes as she did when she was Claire. "Cloud gave me this ring after our first meeting in the Garden of Midgard."

"The Garden of Midgard?" Yuna asked in a startled voice.

"You know about it Yuna?" the elder Farron asked.

"I know only of it through legend. The Garden of Midgard was said to be a sanctuary of the world tree Yggdrasil, the World Ash Tree, the Guardian of All Realms and that twelve different flowers grow within it. It was said in the legends that it was a realm outside of time and space and could connect two places separated by great distances and times."

Lightning nodded, having already realized that the moment she received that letter from Cloud via her mother and read all of the history surrounding him and the adventure he had gone on. "Yeah, I know all about it. Cloud and I met under the shadow of Yggdrasil when he was seven and I was six. We both promised each other something: that he would become part of SOLDIER so he could protect me and I would become part of the Guardian Corps and become strong to protect him." The smile that graced Lightning's lips once more was radiant, causing her companions to smile at her because of the beauty of their meeting and the romantic feeling behind it. "And I later found out that he lived two-thousand years before me."

All of the warriors of Cosmos's, except for Yuna because she met Tidus who was from the two-thousand years into the past of Spira –and Tifa obviously, because she began to connect the dots-, eyes widened when she told them that Cloud, Tifa and Lightning were from the same world, yet separated by nearly two millennia.

"So you have a guy from nearly two-thousand years ago propose to you when you were both children and he's on the wrong side? Wow," Laguna muttered, "take about a messed up romance."

"We both didn't realize that him placing the ring on my left ring finger meant that he proposed to me," Lightning pouted slightly, he cheeks flushing slightly.

"What did you think it meant?" Kain asked, an amused smirk gracing his lips as he saw the usually serious Lightning act more feminine and somewhat child-like and naïve. Lightning muttered something under her breath and the dragoon held his hand to his ear and asked, "What was that Lightning?"

"I said that we both thought that it meant a sign of friendship," was her rather naïve response.

By now, Tifa's memories of her own world and the events that occurred then had returned. She had felt slightly bitter towards her friend Lightning because it was obvious that Cloud cared for Claire, who was Lightning, and the pinkette cared for, maybe even loved, the blonde. But she had soon realized that Cloud regarded her as a sister in her memories, even taking the flak for her when she was hurt because of the fall from the bridge. She realized that Cloud wanted to become SOLDIER to protect her and become strong enough to protect Claire when he met her again.

"That doesn't explain why Cloud lied to you though, Tifa," Lightning said, her countenance turning serious. "Why would he lie to you?"

"He said something about me second guessing myself if we ever fought and that if I did, I'd lose myself," the brawler recounted Cloud's words.

"Cloud… Ah! I just remembered," Lightning said as she pulled out a rather old piece of paper out of her left breast pocket. She unfolded it and scanned over it, her eyes darting over the handwriting of her first friend. Her eyes widened as she turned her gaze back to her comrades. "Cloud said something about him trying to face the god of discord, Chaos. And that I have to stop him."

"Why would Cloud try to defy his own deity?" Kain asked in an incredulous tone.

Tifa had kept quiet the whole time, but chose now to speak up once more. "I think he's trying to protect me," she said in a quiet voice. Her companions turned to her and she took it as a signal to explain. "I think Cloud was afraid that I would remember him, and that I would hate him because he became my enemy."

"But he wasn't before, was he?" Yuna asked. "If what Sephiroth said is true-"

"We shouldn't trust a warrior of Chaos's words," was Kain's harsh reply.

"Then we shouldn't trust Cloud at all?" the daughter of Braska snapped back, briefly showing her darker, angry side. The dragoon was silent. "That means that Sephiroth was once a warrior of Cosmos in the previous cycle, just like Cloud was. And that he feared that he would be scorned by his former allies because of his new allegiance."

Vaan shook his head as he pulled the spit out from above the fire and placed it on a large serving platter. "Must suck," he muttered under his breath.

"Wait, Lightning, where are you going?" Kain shouted as he saw Lightning walking away from the campsite, her med-pack strapped to her left thigh and the Blaze Edge in its holster. The four others shot up from their seats and ran after the pinkette.

"I'm going to stop Cloud from getting himself killed," Lightning replied as she looked at her fellow warriors over her shoulder. She had once more adopted her cold soldier attitude.

"Lightning, even if we couldn't stop you, how are you going to get to Cloud? He's probably half way across the northern continent towards Chaos's lair!" Laguna shouted, wishing his newest ally and potential friend wouldn't throw away her life to save someone who was throwing his away to save his friend from his home world.

Vaan, Yuna and Kain were fearful for Lightning because she would traverse the whole realm, facing numerous adversaries just to save one life. They didn't want her life thrown away senselessly. They knew that she wanted to save her friend, but they were afraid she wouldn't make it.

Tifa understood exactly why Lightning was doing this. If the roles were reversed for Cloud and Lightning, she knew the blonde would do the same because the pinkette was a friend he cared deeply for.

Right when Lightning was about to reply, a loud whiney cut through the air and the sound of galloping hooves soon filled the air, drawing everyone's attention to the darkness.

At first, they saw only a figure in the darkness, approaching them rapidly. As it got closer, they could make out the shape of a horse, and as it came closer, they identified it as a Midgard Mustang, a being that appeared only in legends concerning the Garden of Midgard. To Lightning though, it was a Gran Pulse Mustang. When it stopped just a few feet in front of the elder Farron, her eyes widened as she took in its appearance.

The Gran Pulse Mustang stood well above her, atop strong powerful legs. Its hair was deep, rich amber brown color, with the main and tail being a deep black color, while on its forehead was a white patch of hair in the shape of a diamond. On its back was a leather saddle.

"Epona," Lightning whispered as she approached the Gran Pulse Mustang. The mystical horse whinnied and nodded its head twice, and allowed her charge to stroke her hand across her face. The pinkette smiled and nuzzled her cheek to Epona's face and whispered, "It's good to see you again." When she released the Mustang, Epona stared at the summoner of Odin.

"That's Epona?" Yuna whispered in awe. When her friends looked at her, she explained. "Epona is one of the numerous guardians of the Garden of Midgard, and she is said to only appear before woman of strong heart, will and spirit. Legend says that once nearly every million years, Epona, and the other Guardians of the Garden of Midgard shall choose a human to watch over and guide. And that the human they choose would become a warrior of Valhalla and be blessed with strength to alter the worlds."

"Was Fenrir among the guardians?" Lightning asked suddenly.

The summoner gasped. "How did you know?"

The pinkette didn't respond but instead nodded to Epona and mounted the Gran Pulse Mustang's saddle and took the reins that suddenly appeared in her grasp. She then turned her gaze back to Tifa and asked, "Where did you last see Cloud, Tifa?"

"He was last in the Midgar Ruins five hours ago, it was near the land bridge between the southern and northern continents," the brawler replied quickly. "Lightning, ride quickly, you don't have much time!" But as she uttered the pinkette's name, the former Guardian Corps sergeant had already been fifty paces away, the Gran Pulse Mustang kicking up dirt as she dashed like the wind, her hooves thundering across the plains.

* * *

'_Only a bit longer_,' Cloud thought to himself as he nudged a piece of wood in the fire before him with a long iron prod. The pseudo-SOLDIER 1st Class had luckily found an abandoned campsite near in a forest, only twenty miles away from Chaos's throne, and set up the camp once more. His Mako enhanced cyan eyes stared through the fire into something beyond it.

He remembered Sephiroth, Nibelheim, Zack, Midgar, Tseng, that red-haired Turk Cissnei, his mom Sera Strife, Tifa; he remembered the good times he spent with the two SOLDIER 1st Class members, the two Turks, the laughs and fun they all shared as the enjoyed the leisure time. He remembered the love and care from his mother and the devotion he held towards her. He remembered his second childhood friend, the one he saw as his sister in all but blood, and the bond between them and the care they held toward one another.

Then he remembered the one he spent a day with in the shadow of Yggdrasil in the Garden of Midgard, Claire Farron. The imitation SOLDIER 1st Class smiled softly as his eyes left the bright fire before him and trailed towards the night sky above as he fell into his memories once more.

He remembered being a shy young boy when he met Claire, and the awkwardness and curiosity he felt towards the young girl. Even though they were strangers at first, Cloud felt a pull towards the pinkette because she obviously found him interesting as well. It was when the blonde felt compelled to open up to the elder Farron did he start to feel a sense of familiarity and safety when it came to her. Just something deep resonated within him whenever he thought about the pink haired young girl.

He now wondered what the pinkette looked like now. Since it had been thirteen years since his fateful meeting with the pinkette that would mean Claire would be around nineteen maybe twenty. Because Cloud didn't have a very good idea of what women looked like when they were older… well, not really; he saw Tifa and she looked… well… more curvier and filled out. So he now had a good idea of how a girl possibly matured and had… well… come up with a rather vivid picture of the pinkette… he couldn't think of anything to cover her.

He first imagined her hair, long, but not too long, probably falling down to the back of her neck and the hair hanging off her shoulder getting a bit a longer, her lips becoming fuller and rosier in color. Her chest would have also filled out to maybe a size smaller than Tifa's. And her body would have also adopted a more apparent hourglass figure, her hips a bit wider with a slim waist, while her legs would be long and athletic. She was laying on her side on a large king sized bed. Luckily, she had her legs crossed, shielding her lower regions, and her left arm covering her breasts, while her right hand had a finger curled in a 'come hither' motion.

"Claire," he moaned, feeling somewhat tortured and guilty for imagining his first friend in that light and then feeling more guilty because he liked seeing her like that.

"I didn't take you for a pervert Cloud," a suave feminine voice suddenly said behind the blonde, causing him to jump up and turn around and put his fists up, ready to fight whoever it was. His eyes widened when he saw who the owner of the voice was, a young woman, maybe around his age, sitting atop a large brown Mustang.

The woman was exactly how he imagined how Claire would look like, except this pinkette was clothed. Her uniform consisted of a dark brown skirt and a specialized coat over a dark brown turtle neck and a green pauldron with two yellow strips on her left shoulder. On her hands were blue gloves, with yellow colored metal plates on the back, while a long sleeve attached to her left glove went up just below her pauldron. On her left thigh was a dark pink pouch.

"It's not what you think Claire," he stuttered, putting his hands up, worried that the pinkette would punish him for thinking about her like that… even if it was on accident.

The pinkette decided that, since they were both alone, Cloud could call her by her former name.

"If you say so," she said in a mischievous tone as an impish smile crossed her lips. Her smile softened to a kind, radiant one and then dismounted her horse and walked over to the fire the blonde had built and took a seat on the ground in front of it before patting the ground on her left, grinning at the blonde. Cloud scratched the back of his head and grinned back at the pinkette before taking a seat beside his friend.

From there, the two sat in a companionable silence as they once had and just drunk in the presence of the other. Sometimes the two would glance at the other, and when they would catch the other glancing at them, they would both blush and look away and smile to themselves. After about the sixth time doing that, Lightning felt something brush against her hand left hand and then something warm envelope it. The pinkette's eyes turned to her hand and saw Cloud's hand holding her own. Her eyes then shot up to the blonde's face and saw him staring at her with a shy expression, his cheeks flushed slightly pink.

Soon, the two warriors were lying on the ground, Lightning's back to Cloud's chest, who had his arms wrapped around the pinkette's waist, her hands resting on his. The former Guardian Corps sergeant could feel the blonde's steady breathing against her ear and grasped the hands around her waist tighter.

"I see you made SOLDIER Cloud," Lightning commented, happy that her friend had fulfilled his promise to her.

The blonde cringed slightly at the statement. "Actually Claire… I never made SOLDIER."

And then he told her all about his trip to Midgar, signing up for the SOLDIER qualification trials, failing the psychological aspect of the test, being relegated to a Shin-Ra Army grunt, screwing up even in there. He then told her about meeting a SOLDIER 1st Class named Zack Fair, and becoming fast friends with him and then spending time with the First's friends and having fun and going on missions with them.

Cloud then expectantly chuckled, causing the pinkette in his arms to break away from him and turn around to stare into his eyes. The blonde smiled and explained, "This is the second time I've opened up to someone without so much reservation." Lightning smiled in response.

"I know you didn't make SOLDIER Cloud," Lightning said after a while.

"How?"

"Girl from the future soldier Boy," the pinkette teased. "I know all about Cloud Strife and his adventures."

"Should have guessed," Cloud said in a deadpan expression and then rolled his eyes. Lightning just giggled and the blonde grumbled something under his breath.

The two then returned to the position they were in before and just laid there and let the silence take over them once more. A question that had been bugging Cloud since he started telling Claire about his failed attempt to become a member of SOLDIER finally got to him as it began to grow more and more due to his time to ponder and think.

"Claire… what are you doing here?"

The pinkette sighed heavily, which was not a good sign, before turning around in Cloud's arms and stared into his cyan eyes. Her head slowly came closer to his, her eyes closing as well. Cloud's head leaned towards hers as well, and the two soldiers' lips met in a small, passionate kiss. When Lightning pulled away from the warrior of Chaos, she had a sad smile on her lips.

"Cloud…" she started, "I'm a warrior of Cosmos."

When Lightning was done with her explanation, their positions had changed to where Cloud was sitting with his back against Epona's side and his head atop his childhood friend's, while Lightning was laying her back against the blonde's chest. Once more, the pseudo-SOLDIER 1st Class had his arms around the pinkette's waist, while Lightning's hands rested on his.

"So you're here to save me from fighting Chaos?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah," she murmured.

After six minutes and thirty-nine seconds of silence –Lightning counted them off in her head- the pinkette began to worry that her friend would reject her proposal to save him from fighting an impossible fight against a god.

"If it were anyone else who tried to stop me," the blonde started, "I would have ignored them and still fought against Chaos. But, because it's you Claire, I won't sacrifice myself." His hands tightened around his friend's waist, pulling her closer so her ear was beside his lips. "I'm not going to fight him, because I know that if I do, you'll go along with me, and I can't have that happen."

"Damn right," the former Guardian Corps sergeant muttered as a smirk crossed her lips.

"Yeah," the blonde whispered. "C'mon, let's go to sleep." Lightning hummed her approval and slowly let her body calm down so that she could rest. That last thing she felt before she slept was the slow rise and fall of Cloud's chest, while the last thing she saw before her eyes closed was the silhouette of a wolf at the edge of the light coming from the fire.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Well there it is! Hope you like this chapter of Across the Ages. I'm sort of new at fight scenes, so please only constructive criticism on it.**

**Envoy: Are those two done yet?**

**Soren: *looks at watch* Nope. I think those two are going to break that record.**

**Envoy: *twitch* There's no such thing.**

**Soren: *smirks* Wanna bet?**

**Envoy: *deadpan* How 'bout no.**

***Lightning and Cloud soon appear once more with their clothes tattered and torn in some places. Cloud's hair seeming more ruffled while Lightning's hair was frazzled a bit***

**Lightning: *glares at Soren* Don't you dare with any innuendos.**

**Soren: *smirks* I wouldn't dream of it.**

**Cloud: *sigh and facepalm* Read and review.**


	3. Gaining Momentum

Across the Ages

**This is a shout out to my friend from my Anime Amino app on my iPod, Adirato, or Adi-chan! Love ya girl and I hope your artwork improves!**

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**Author's notes:**

**Envoy: How long has Lightning been taking pot shots at Soren?**

**Cloud: Claire's been at for at least three hours.**

**Envoy: I wonder why I let my god persona out.**

**Cloud: Because he's the one influencing these events?**

**Envoy: *shrug* And? He likes teasing people too much! Especially girls!**

**Cloud: Maybe I should stop her?**

**Envoy: Maybe you should. *sigh* Read and review when you're done people.**

* * *

**Note: This chapter is a transition chapter and will signify the end of the first arc.**

**Time periods for each character:**

**Warrior of Light and Garland: Unknown**

**Firion and Emperor Mateus: Three-quarters of the way through Final Fantasy II**

**Luneth and the Cloud of Darkness: Having just finished his journey in Final Fantasy III**

**Cecil, Golbez and Kain: Directly after Final Fantasy IV**

**Bartz and Exdeath: Half a year after Final Fantasy V**

**Cloud, Sephiroth and Tifa: in the time between Crisis Core and Final Fantasy VII**

**Squall, Ultimecia and Laguna: A little after their first meeting in Final Fantasy VIII**

**Zidane and Kuja: Directly after the final cut scene in Final Fantasy IX**

**Tidus, Jecht and Yuna: The brief gap between Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2**

**Vaan: half way on his adventure, having just finished the trials in Giruvgen**

**Lightning: Just after Odin had been defeated**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing here mentioned except for the plot and Soren and Envoy.**

**READ THIS NOTE! I got several key events mixed up so if you know the 12****th**** Cycle plot, don't get mad at me. I haven't played cycle 12 in a while!**

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**Chapter 3: Gaining Momentum**

* * *

_A gathering of warriors of both sides occurs  
__Events that were to occur cease  
__Now a new cycle shall unfold_

"What do you mean we have lost one of own warriors?" a yellow haired man garbed in golden armor, wearing a purple cape sitting atop a stone throne asked the man before him as his scepter floated beside his throne. To his left was a large man garbed in head to toe in silver armor, his helmet having with two horns sticking out from it while a violet cape hung from his rather broad shoulders. In his hand was a rather odd looking weapon that looked like a cumbersome giant broadsword. To the right of the man on the throne was a woman with a scandalous red outfit, but with savage looking claws and dark feathered wings as well, while her silver hair was in the shape of horns, with her feet were bare. She was Ultimecia and the knight was Garland. The man on the throne was none other than Emperor Mateus.

"It's exactly as I say it," the person with the appearance of a clown answered in a serious tone unbefitting a clown. He was garbed in mismatched red and yellow fabrics with striped and polka doted pants, while his long yellow hair was pulled into a rather loose ponytail with a feather head ornament. The harlequin's name was Kefka Palazzo, a very crafty, insane, and unforgiving and merciless man.

"How is it that we lost one of our warriors, when in fact we are all here?" a feminine voice asked. All eyes turned to the owner and from the shadows emerged the figure of an even more scantily clad woman. Though this time she had a long red cape and had two snakes emerging from her hips and pale skin with a red heart shape on her forehead. Both "she" and Ultimecia had silver hair.

"Yeah!" a rather loud and exuberant voice exclaimed. All of the gathered warriors cursed under their breath as a young blonde Adonis of a man with only shorts and shoes on ran into the Top Floor of Pandemonium while his odd sword with a hook hung from his belt.

"Tidus," the Cloud of Darkness acknowledged with a nod of its head.

"Yo!" he waved back with a stupid grin.

"I too wish to know what this impromptu meeting is about, not that it matters when all shall soon return to nothingness by the Void," a very deep, dark voice said as another man, or being, garbed in head to toe in intricate light blue armor with a light blue cape as with an odd looking sword in his hand emerged from behind another spiked object.

"Your Void is not-" the Cloud of Darkness started but was soon stopped when another voice cut in.

"I swear to all the playwrights of my world, if you two start another argument on the Void, I'll start playing 'Here Comes the Bride' and have you dressed up in a gown and Exdeath in a tuxedo!" The owner of the, normally, soft voice was Kuja, who had went on a rant the moment he entered the Top Floor of Pandemonium and heard the Cloud of Darkness start up. Kuja was a rather effeminate man that had silver hair that fell to his back, with a silver feather ornament on his head. On his body were white sleeves, and a violet mantle, while his cape that extended to the backs of his ankles was white and was held together by four belts that formed a codpiece.

"We are here to see what the announcement is, not to argue like simpletons! Or is that too hard for you two?" the effeminate silver haired mage asked as he glared at Exdeath and the Cloud of Darkness.

If the Cloud of Darkness and Exdeath were human, they both would have been blushing abashedly in both embarrassment and having been insinuated that they were an old married couple; though case and point they were both beings that craved the destruction of all through the power of the Void and had very few emotions other than the negative ones. So instead, the two sneered at the silver mage and returned their attention to the clown.

"If this squabbling is done," another deep voice began, "then may we hear what the clown says?" All eyes turned to see _another_ man garbed in armor from head to toe; though this time he had black armor with purple trims. His helmet though had small curved horns and a small horn with a golden sun on the bottom on top of his helmet while a cape colored black on the outside and violet on the inside hung from his shoulders.

"Now that we are all gathered here," Kefka started, "Wait, I count…" He then pointed at Garland, "1," then Emperor Mateus, "…2," then at the Cloud of Darkness, "…3," Golbez, "…4," Exdeath, "…5," himself, "…6," Ultimecia, "…7," Kuja, "…8," Tidus, "9," he then counted on his hand, "there's also Terra… so that's 10…" He then looked around worriedly. "Where's Sephy?" he asked in a mock-worried voice while holding his head in agony.

"Don't call me that you pathetic clown," Sephiroth said in an even voice as he emerged from the door to the Top Floor of Pandemonium.

"So nice for you to finally join us Sephiroth," Emperor Mateus drawled in a detached voice.

"My apologies," Sephiroth said in a cool voice. The Silver General then turned to Kefka and asked, "It seems that we have lost one of our own."

"Maybe," the harlequin giggled insanely. He had planned on getting Cloud involved in the fight, even though he faced the wrong side, not that it mattered to Kefka. His plan had gone even more splendidly when the Chocobo head was going to fight Chaos to 'end the conflict'. Kefka had no qualms with that, he just didn't count on the blonde being saved. It was no fair, there was no loss of life!

"Did you know that Cloud was going to turn his blade on me?" Sephiroth glared. "You told me to attack that girl, Tifa… Did you plan on having him attack me?"

"I had my suspicions that the little Chocobo head was not as into this conflict as we were," he answered in infuriating squeaky voice. "It turned out that Cloud shares a world with you," he pointed at Sephiroth, "and that rather busty girl. Turns out he and that girl were friends."

"So that would explain Cloud's reluctance to join the fight," Emperor Mateus mused.

"He was too soft-hearted to be a warrior of Chaos in the first place," Ultimecia explained. "If we," she spoke more of Sephiroth than anyone present, "had disposed of that girl, would it have caused him to get more into the fighting? … I wonder."

"That is an unlikely outcome Ultimecia," Golbez interjected. "It would have most likely served to turn his ire towards our side instead of towards the warriors of Cosmos."

"I saw Cloud heading towards Chaos's throne in Edge of Madness yesterday. He looked like a man with a plan," Kuja said offhandedly.

"Then the boy most likely went off to stop this war and save that girl. Though we believe all is for naught either way," the Cloud of Darkness tossed in its two Gil.

"Heh," Tidus smirked as he leaned back on his arms atop one of the floating upside-down pyramids. "You won't see me risking my skin for some girl."

'_That is if you don't remember_,' Emperor Mateus thought as he lazily reclined on his throne.

"Then he most likely has fallen to Chaos for his treachery," Garland said in an even tone.

"No, he has not," Exdeath proclaimed. "If he had, I would have felt his soul leave for the Void."

"Exdeath is right," the Cloud of Darkness acknowledged in the positive. "There has been no migration of souls or bodies into the Void since this cycle has begun."

"So that means Cloud is still alive, and has turned traitor," Emperor Mateus sneered.

"Apparently the Chocobo head has a main squeeze amongst the warriors of Cosmos. Somehow a girl was able to make it all the way to the outskirts of Chaos's throne and talk the Chocobo head out of it," Kefka answered in an annoyed tone while picking his ear.

"Tifa?" Sephiroth supplied, while making a face a Kefka's bad habits.

"Nah, I think it was some weird soldier girl. She had some weird colored hair. I mean seriously, pink?" Kefka then tossed his hair. "The Chocobo head has poor taste in women."

"Like you have taste," Kuja muttered from his seat atop one of the floating upside-down pyramids.

"How do you know this?" Emperor Mateus asked, intrigued that the insane clown had done something other than senseless destruction.

"Eh, one of my manikin patrols had spotted a large Midgard Mustang and Midgard Timber Wolf racing from the Great Forest of Moore, and on the backs of them were that pinkette and Cloud. Though the surprising thing is, how is that legends even exist?" Kefka pondered.

"A Midgard Mustang and Timber Wolf? I thought those were legends," Golbez muttered.

"I had seen something akin to a Midgard Timber Wolf in my world, it was a Nibelheim Timber Wolf," Sephiroth shook his head. "The Legend of Midgard is nothing but a myth."

"A myth that all our worlds have in common," Emperor Mateus reiterated. "Not only that, but it seems the two have the Midgard Mustang and Timber Wolf as their guardians. This is most troublesome."

"It matters not." Garland, acting as Chaos's adjutant, stepped forward and stood in the middle of the whole group. He then looked at all gathered "loyal" warriors of Chaos. "I am making an ultimatum, if any other warriors of Chaos turn traitor, any warriors traveling with them are to dispose of them at their own discretion. And if Cloud is found, you are to capture him alive so that he may be brought forth to Chaos for judgment." He then glared, as best as a fully armored man could, at Kefka, "I want them disposed of fast as well."

"Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye," Kefka swore, and then suddenly poked himself in the eye in the most ironic way. "Agggggghhhhhh!"

Of all the warriors of Chaos, only Tidus laughed. Most either deadpanned at the moronic gesture or could care less about the situation; case in point being Emperor Mateus, Ultimecia, and Golbez being the ones to deadpan, while Sephiroth, Exdeath, the Cloud of Darkness and Garland could care less about the whole thing.

Kuja just facepalmed. What an inelegant man.

No one ever realized that Kefka had his fingers crossed the whole time.

* * *

A man garbed in blue armor, with gold trimming on the edge, with a cape on his back and a horned helmet on his head looked over all of the gathered warriors before him in Order's Sanctuary. Underneath his cape was his trusty Crystal Shield while Crystal Sword was worn on his belt.

His eyes first fell upon a man with deep tanned skin, shaggy black hair, a large tattoo upon his chest, shorts that fell to his knees, and a shovel like broadsword, stood beside a young woman with a blue skirt and kimono top and conversed with her about what they would do when they returned to their world.

"Do you think we will find Tidus, Sir Jecht?"

"Maybe." That was the best the famous blitzballer could come up with for an answer unfortunately.

The warrior's eyes then turned to the man with a scar across his face, garbed in black, leather pants, white shirt underneath a matching black, leather jacket who had an odd looking sword with a gun handle on it hanging from his belt. Beside him were three young men, all as loud and rambunctious as the last. One was a rather short blonde young man garbed in a white shirt, a teal vest over it and blue Jodhpur pants with multiple belts holding it together at the waist with a brown dagger sheathe at his waist and two daggers hanging from his waist. The other was a brunette haired young man with a light cyan shirt, with white leggings and a dark blue sash strapped around his waist with a golden shoulder guard with an entirely red sword hanging from his waist. The third was the silver haired young man from Laguna's group.

"Vaan, Bartz, Zidane, shut up already, you're bothering me," Squall Leonhart muttered.

The Warrior of Light shook his head slightly as he felt slight pity and a hint of amusement towards the SeeD cadet. The warrior's eyes then turned to the youngest of all the warrior of Cosmos, Luneth –a youth who was garbed in blue armor, cape and helmet-, and found him conversing with the resident weapons specialist of the warrior of Cosmos and the paladin/dark knight and also King of Baron.

"So how do you use all those weapons Firion?" the young silver haired boy asked.

"I should ask you how you are able to change jobs on the fly Luneth," Cecil Harvey countered with a kind smile.

A sigh escaped the silver haired rebel's lips as the Warrior of Light turned his eyes to the brawler, gunner and dragoon of the group.

"Where is Lightning right now Laguna?" the Warrior of Light asked.

"Well you see," the unbeknownst father of Squall started, "Light kinda went off on her own."

The paragon warrior's left eyebrow upraised in suspicion. "And why is she gallivanting around this world… on her own?"

"Ummm… Err… That is to say-" the president of Esthar couldn't finish his sentence due to the fact that a loud whiney broke through the normal calm silence of Order's Sanctuary, but it was soon followed by a loud howl from a wolf. All thirteen warriors of Cosmos turned towards where the sound originated from and saw light falling down upon two seated people.

One of the people that everyone recognized as Lightning was sitting atop a large, brown Midgard Mustang. All eyes then turned to see a blonde haired person sitting on the back of a large, grey Midgard Timber Wolf. The two large mounts then raced on towards the throne of Order's Sanctuary, the wolf oddly enough outracing the Mustang. When all the warriors had gathered to greet the two people, they saw that the blonde was in the lead, and then suddenly, they saw Lightning urge on the Mustang and soon saw it catching up to the mysterious person and wolf and then jumping over the both of them. All eyes widened when they saw Lightning's horse crash back to the ground on all fours and stop a few paces before the gathered warriors.

The wolf then pulled up beside the horse and everyone saw the blonde glare up at the pinkette. "That was a cheap move Claire."

Everyone's eyes –excluding those of Kain, Laguna, Vaan, Yuna and Tifa- widened when they heard the very un-Lightning like giggle that escaped from the pinkette's lips. The Warrior of Light though was unaffected, and only had an upraised brow. The emotion was so shocking that all missed hearing Lightning's real name.

Those whose eyes widened a moment ago did a double take when they heard Lightning act like a young girl arguing with her friend. "You're just a sore loser Cloud," Lightning laughed as she stuck her tongue out at him.

The blonde man who was identified as Cloud shook his head and rolled his eyes at the pinkette as both of them dismounted their respective animal mounts.

"I need to see Cosmos," Lightning said as passed through the other warriors of Cosmos, her soldier demeanor quickly taking over again.

"Who is the man?" the Warrior of Light questioned as he rested his hand on the pommel of his sword.

Cloud was quiet for a moment before looking down and muttering, "My name is Cloud… I'm a warrior of Chaos."

Soon two sides were distinguished as the former Guardian Corps sergeant jumped in front of Cloud, Blaze Edge raised, and the Warrior of Light pointed his sword at the blonde, while Kain raised his lance in defense of Lightning; Laguna, Yuna, Vaan and Tifa taking up arms to protect the pinkette as well. The Onion Knight, Cecil, and Squall had their swords at the ready to the left of the Warrior of Light, while Zidane, Bartz and Firion stood at the ready to the Warrior's right. Jecht looked on from the side, rather not wanting to get into the infighting, but resolved only to join the fight if Yuna was injured, but only then to defend the daughter of his friend.

"Tch," Lightning muttered as she glared at the de facto leader of the warriors of Cosmos.

"It's a traitorous act to bring an enemy into the heart of our territory," the Warrior of Light started. "Though I should charge all of you for your treachery, I can sense that there is a deeper plot connected to this all," he then pointed the Crystal Sword at Lightning and Cloud, "especially with you two."

"You felt it as well?" a beautiful voice said from nowhere.

"Cosmos," the Warrior of Light declared as his eyes turned towards the throne in the middle. He nodded towards the warriors standing on his side and sheathed his sword. He then turned towards Lightning's group and nodded at the pinkette before heading towards the throne. Lightning held onto Blaze Edge a bit longer before setting it to neutral mode and sheathing it. She then turned around and nodded at her friends.

"Thanks guys," she said in a quiet voice.

Kain smirked at the pinkette before he nodded and headed toward the throne. Yuna, Laguna and Vaan all smiled and nodded before heading towards the throne, Jecht soon following after them and keeping pace with Yuna. Tifa smiled as well and walked over to Lightning and Cloud and enveloped them both in a hug that caught the two normally stoic people off guard. The brawler soon released the two and headed toward the throne. The pinkette then turned around toward the spiky haired blonde beside her.

"Let's go, Cloud," she murmured.

The pseudo-SOLDIER 1st Class nodded before leaning forward and placing a small kiss on her forehead. He then pulled back and smiled softly as his eyes softened as well.

"Together," he said.

"Together," she nodded.

"No matter the odds," he finished. The two then walked off towards were the others were gathered.

Soon all the warriors of Cosmos were gathered in front of the bench like throne as light began to gather and coalesce into the one spot. But even then, the people stood on different sides; Lightning stood to the left of the throne while Kain, Yuna, Tifa, Laguna, and Vaan stood behind her, while Cloud stood to her right; the Warrior of Light stood to the right of the throne with Firion to his right, Cecil to his left, while Luneth, Bartz, Squall, and Zidane stood behind the de facto leader. Jecht all the while again stood in his own group directly in the middle, right behind Cloud.

Soon, in a flash of light, a figure appeared standing before the throne. It was Cosmos, the goddess of Harmony in this world. She was a beautiful blonde woman garbed in a white robe with gold trimmings, with golden jewelry on her wrists and neck, while a small, simple crown was wrapped around the top of her head. A soft, ethereal light surrounded her for a second before dissipating, leaving a soft, faint glowing shroud of light over her body.

Cloud had only once seen Cosmos, goddess of Harmony, and that was in the cycle before this. Sure the goddess of Harmony was a beautiful woman, but the blonde had already seen a more beautiful person who was a mortal. He looked out of the corner of his eye to his left and saw that a deep, resolute fire burned in the pinkette's eyes.

"Cloud," the blonde's attention immediately turned back to the throne when the goddess of Harmony announced his name, "I feel that your fate has been altered from the course it was to take."

"How so?" Lightning asked, already knowing the answer.

"I felt the winds of this world sudden alter to a different fate just last night," Cosmos began. "I had felt a powerful energy swirling around the region near Chaos's throne, and I have no doubt Chaos has also felt this. I had no idea that it was Cloud that you were saving. I had known there was something about both of you. When Cloud had arrived in my land, I had seen a large wolf, the Midgard Timber Wolf, at the edge of my domain staring at me. It was when you joined us Lightning, that a large thunderstorm had occurred, covering nearly the entire continent and a heavy change in the air occurred as well.

"Now I ask you why you," she stared at the blonde pseudo-SOLDIER, "have asked an audience of me."

"Cosmos, goddess of harmony," Cloud said as he walked toward the goddess. The Warrior of Light placed his hand on the pommel of his sword when he heard Cosmos's voice in his head to be at peace. Soon, the blonde stood only five paces before the goddess and then suddenly knelt before her on one knee. "I come before you, as a former warrior of yours, pleading that you withhold both Tifa and Claire from the fighting." A wave of gasps was heard, and several of the warriors of Cosmos, particularly from the Warrior of Light and Squall, narrowed their eyes at the spiky blonde wielder of the Buster Sword.

Both were about to speak up and shoot down Cloud's request, but they soon both felt their goddess enter their minds and put them at rest and ease their worries, though the Warrior of Light was still slightly skeptical.

Again, everyone forgot to listen in on Lightning's real name as everyone's gasps had masked the name that left the blonde's lips.

"Why do you wish this Cloud?" the goddess asked. Even though Cosmos knew the answer, she wanted to hear what her once chosen warrior's own feelings were.

Cloud looked down for a moment and lifted his hands from his sides and regarded them. He balled them up into fists as his face scrunched up into deep concentration.

Zack Fair had become someone akin to a brother to Cloud, so upbeat and happy, like he once was. Even though Zack had suffered great loss, he still was upbeat and cheerful, even if it was just a façade. Cloud though was simply defeated because he couldn't get into the once noble group of SOLDIER. He couldn't simply allow himself to be defeated by some petty thing like a rejection to a group. He had to be strong if he wanted to live up to be Zack's legacy.

He had made up his mind.

Cloud stood up quickly with a determined look etched into his brow and quickly drew the Buster Sword from the magnet on his back. Some warriors were eager to cut down the warrior of Chaos the moment he showed any deceit and saw this as their chance, but were stopped by several other warriors. The ones who had stopped them motioned with their heads to what Cloud was doing.

Cloud stood rigid in front of Cosmos as he held the base of the blade of his Buster Sword to his forehead, the edge of the sword pointing skyward. His hands gripped the red handle with enough might to shatter steel, but the Buster Sword held true.

"If you want to be a hero," the blonde muttered loud enough for all to hear, "Then you have to have dreams… and honor."

The pseudo-SOLDIER's eyes glowed brightly as he took his Buster Sword in his right hand and thrust the tip of it downward into the water covered earth beneath all their feet. The Buster Sword stood perfectly perpendicular with the ground as it dug nearly a foot into it. Cloud rested his right hand on the pommel of his Buster Sword and looked at the goddess before, his eyes burning with a powerful conviction and determination.

"I grew up knowing a girl named Claire, she was someone I had only known for a short time, but she was someone I connected with. I had promised her that I would join the military division SOLDIER so that I could be strong and protect her. I then made that same promise to Tifa when we were children, vowing to protect her as a brother should. But I failed both of them.

"I then met a man, a SOLDIER 2nd Class named Zack Fair. After a while, I began to idolize him, but then we became closer, we became brothers in all but blood and true comrades, even though I was never strong enough to fight back-to-back with him. Then the Sephiroth Crisis happened. My former idol had gone insane and destroyed all I held dear. I had nearly lost Tifa because of that. But I had used the strength granted to me by Yggdrasil and Fenrir to throw him into the Mako reactor. But in the end, Zack and I lost.

"For four years, Zack and I had been suspended in Mako and had experiments performed on us, until Zack had broken us both out of there. For nearly a year we ran, until the ShinRa army finally caught up to us. In the end Zack sacrificed himself for me." As Cloud had reached the climax of his tale, many had begun to sniffle or act remorseful. Luneth was outright bawling.

"Even if Yggdrasil and Fenrir blessed me, no one should toss their life aside for me. And no one should die if I can do something about it. That was why I had decided to face Chaos myself, to end this conflict and get Tifa, and now Claire, back to their worlds. I ask only that take them out of the fighting and allow me to fight in their place. And if I am to fall fighting, I will know that I had at least saved both of them from that fate." He stared down the goddess, his presence not that of a man, but that of one who stood almost at a god's own level.

The Goddess of Harmony regarded the man before her with her blue eyes and internally dissected the blonde's request. He had told her his life story and had explained why he wanted to protect both Lightning and Tifa. This request came not from some of idea of respect or debt, but of the idea that he had to, just had to, protect them. He had made a promise that he would protect those that he loved, and even though he had failed to do so one countless times, if he could do so just once, he would do so.

She understood that.

One of her own warriors was her very own champion, Geoffrey. Even to that day since the very first cycle, the longest of all in which she lost so many of her own warriors, as did Chaos, he had sworn to protect her with his life.

The goddess shook her head internally and gazed at the fellow blonde before her. She could see that Cloud was dead set on protecting both Lightning and Tifa, but would throw away his life away for them if he must. She was completely certain that his choice would not go over well with either young woman. Cosmos so wished that she could stop her champion from sacrificing himself for her. She made her decision to help both Tifa and Lightning.

"Cloud," Cosmos started. "You, who were once one of my chosen champions, have come before me as a warrior of Chaos asking that I withdraw Tifa and Lightning from the fight. Is that what you are asking? What do the two have to say about this?"

Cloud flinched ever so slightly and looked at both the raven haired girl and the pinkette.

"You're not going to throw your life away for any of us, and we aren't going to throw away our either, right Light?" Tifa asked the former Guardian Corps sergeant as she crossed her arms under her chest.

Lightning said nothing as she approached the blonde, her eyes shadowed by her bangs. All looked questioning at Lightning before she finally looked Cloud in the eyes. Cloud's eyes widened in surprise at the sight. In the pinkette's eyes was a deep indignation, and she seemed somewhat slighted. A resounding smack was heard as Lightning had, rather hard, slapped the blonde across the face causing him to stagger somewhat, leaving his cheek where the attack impacted to glow red.

"What the hell are you thinking?" she shouted at the blonde. "I had just saved your sorry skin from getting killed by Chaos's hands and asked you to come back with me only to find out you want to bench me and Tifa?" Her frown soon turned to a snarl. "We are both capable women who can handle ourselves. Not only that, but you're going to throw away your life again to try and save us? You idiot!" she shouted as she grabbed onto Cloud's collar and pulled him until his face was an inch from hers.

"Didn't we make a promise to each other that we would protect each other and fight side by side. You know me, I'm not going to sit around and twiddle me thumbs as someone goes off to fight and die for me if I have something to say about it!"

"But-" Cloud feebly started, wanting to tell Claire that he wouldn't let her or Tifa die.

"I don't give a damn about your pride! If beating it into your head that I'm going to fight by your side until the day I die, and that words won't convey my feelings, then I might as well do this!" Lightning soon dropped her hand from his collar and wrapped them around Cloud's neck and then pulled him into a searing kiss, right in front of all the warrior of Cosmos and the Goddess of Harmony herself. Cloud's eyes widened for a brief second before he closed his eye, wrapped his arms around her waist and reciprocated the action.

The way that her lips desperately tugged at his own and the way her hands seemed to tremble around his neck as well as her body, Cloud could tell that she was trying to convey her fear, apprehension, anger and sadness to him. He felt ashamed that he had brought such a strong woman down to such a simply way of conveying her feelings. He soon began to convey his feelings back to her.

Lightning felt Cloud's grip around her waist tighten and the pull and acceptance of his own lips. She had known that Cloud was self-sacrificial since last night, but she didn't realize it was to this extent until now. She was lucky that she was a strong woman who would stand up for her heart and protect those she loved, even from their own selves. She could tell that Cloud was remorseful because, well, she just could. It wasn't something she could explain in words, or possibly ever could.

All the while, many of the warriors of Cosmos had developed blushes from seeing the couple kiss one another before them.

The Warrior of Light seemed slightly unfazed, but Cosmos had caught him shoot her a very discreet glance out of the corner of his eye. The two had locked eyes for a few seconds before the Warrior of Light returned to waiting for the two to come back to the land of the living.

Firion remembered back to that one time during his adventure with the Wild Roses the night he spent with Maria. Even though nothing major had happened, he did lose his first kiss to her at the campsite.

Luneth on the other hand finished his sniffling and had thought back to his friend Refia back on the Floating Continent. If both Cloud and Lightning we childhood friends, and ended up as strong and powerful young adults, would he and Refia be like that?

The King of Baron smiled warmly at the scene because it reminded him so much of when Rosa went chasing after him into the desert. Lightning seemed just as stubborn as her. In fact, Cecil could see a bit of himself in the blonde soldier. Kain all the while was silently chuckling due to the fact that he saw the normally stoic Lightning turn into a frantic and scared lover.

Though Bartz seemed to be smiling warmly, he felt a little jealous of the two because of how he was never that close to Leena, even though he wanted to be. He made up his mind to return and kindle their relationship with one another.

Tifa gasped in surprise but soon smiled as she saw the two relax in each other's arms. Though she felt a pang of jealousy, she could get over it.

Squall had developed a slight twitch in his right eye and a very, very small blush adorned his cheeks as he watched the two soldiers lock lips. He was suddenly reminded of Rinoa and their time together. After a while, she had begun to melt his barriers away. Maybe the reason why he was sulking so much in this world was due to the fact Rinoa wasn't here with him.

Zidane clapped for a moment and then wolf whistled and began to hum 'Here Comes the Bride'. Ironically enough, Zidane noted, that the whole thing looked similar to a wedding in the fact that Cloud was the groom, Lightning the bride, Jecht the bride's father, with Lightning's group being on the bride's side and the remaining warriors on the groom's side, while Cosmos herself was the priest, or priestess in this case. This whole thing somewhat reminded him of when he had returned to Garnet. Ah, that was a truly beautiful moment.

Jecht felt slightly out of place due to the fact that he was the oldest of all those present. His marriage with Lania hadn't been exotic or anything, but it wasn't boring either. How the next generation seemed to change. Yuna was reminded of the time in the Macalania Woods spring, and Tidus's promise to protect her from dying after summoning the Final Aeon. Even if Tidus had never truly existed, she still loved him.

Vaan as well seemed uncomfortable due to the fact that he was looking away and blushing. He had never kissed a person before or seen anyone act intimate with another person up close. Though he was close to comforting Ashe on the bridge in Jahara, it was supposed to be a hug.

The kiss had only lasted close to seven seconds –six seconds, thirty-four milliseconds to be precise- and had left both Cloud and Lightning only slightly short of breath. When the two had their breathing somewhat under control, they had realized that they had kissed in front of the entire group of the warriors of Cosmos and the Goddess herself. Both had at least some decency to blush before extracting themselves from one another. Cloud looked away from Lightning to the side, avoiding her gaze, even though the pinkette was also avoiding eye contact as well.

"I understand Claire," the blonde pseudo-SOLDIER murmured in an accepting tone. He had accepted the fact that he could not just run off and protect those he cared for while they were safe away somewhere worrying about him. It didn't work like that.

Lightning nodded, not looking at Cloud as she accepted his apology for being an idiotic blockhead. She thought only Snow was this stupid. Maybe it was a guy thing.

"So now that you have heard what both Tifa and Lightning have to say, what is that you will do?" Cosmos could tell what was going to be Cloud's answer due to the fact she understood what those who are in love do.

Cloud turned his attention towards Cosmos before turning and pulling the Buster Sword out of the ground and placing in back on his back and then turning back to the goddess. "If they will not allow me to protect them while they are safe, then please, let me fight by their side so that I may protect them still."

"Even if it is against your former allies?" the goddess asked softly.

"None save for Golbez, Tidus and Kuja could be considered my allies. Even still, I will fight to protect I care the most about, and if I am able to, end this conflict and save everyone from this war," was Cloud's resolute answer. "Even if I am tainted and have a body of darkness, my heart still shines with light, even if it is feeble."

Cosmos closed her eyes as she began to understand that Cloud would not back down in fighting to save both Tifa and Lightning. She doubted anything other than death stopping Cloud from fighting for them. When she had opened her eyes, she answered simply, "Very well."

Cloud seemed shell-shocked in the fact that he had a startled look in his eyes and had gone rigid. It was when Lightning had laid her hand on his right shoulder and whispered his name into his ear did the blonde finally snap out of it. Cloud had looked once at Lightning before turning his attention back to the goddess -not his personal goddess, just a normal goddess- and nodded.

"Thank you, Cosmos, Goddess of Harmony. I will not let you," he then turned around and looked at all the gathered warriors and Lightning, "or any of you," at that he looked in Lightning's direction briefly before regarding all the warriors, "down. I will give you my all."

"Welcome Cloud Strife," the Warrior of Light replied stoically.

"That is a powerful dream you hold," Firion replied.

"Such resolve," Luneth murmured.

"A powerful new ally has joined us," Cecil smiled.

"Indeed, he has a powerful resolve," Kain said.

"Wow," was all Bartz could muster after hearing Cloud's speech.

"Thank you Cloud," Tifa whispered to herself.

"Hn," was all Squall could muster to save face. He didn't feel like saying anything mushy, leave that for everyone else.

"Now that's a resolve," Laguna chuckled to himself nervously.

"Almost like a fairytale," Zidane muttered to himself, realizing he had lived one with Garnet too.

Yuna smiled feebly due to the fact that she was mulling over the news that Tidus was here, alive, but on the opposing side. She soon felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Jecht with a small frown on his face, yet with a determined look in his eyes. She nodded to the father of her companion and turned back to watch the scene unfold.

"Welcome to the crew Cloud," Vaan said as folded his hands behind his head and smirked.

"Cloud," Lightning murmured, her eyes shimmering.

The blonde pseudo-SOLDIER turned to his first childhood friend and nodded to her. "I'm not going to lose and die Claire. I have miles to go and goals to accomplish before I will rest," he said as he cupped her cheek. Lightning pushed into Cloud's hand and stared up at him and nodded.

"Don't die on my Cloud," she whispered. She then grasped his hand with both of hers and held it up to her heart. "If you do," she started, "I'll never forgive you!"

Cloud's only response was a nod, as he felt words would have been meaningless at this point. Both he and Lightning then turned their attention back to Cosmos.

"Cloud, if you are to fight for harmony once more, I must restore the light within you. Are you prepared?" Cosmos asked.

Cloud didn't even debate with himself whether or not he would return to Cosmos's side; his mind had been made up last night as he lay in front of the fire in the Great Moore Forest with Lightning resting against him. "I am."

"Very well, then." Soon a soft glow began emanating from Cosmos's body. The light then soon began to gather at chest. Cosmos then brought her hands up and folded them over her heart as the light began to grow stronger and more radiant. She then released her hands and spread them out before her as the light soon turned into large individual wisps of light. The light then danced around all of Cosmos's warriors and some settled into their chests.

Two wisps danced around both Lightning and Cloud. The wisp nearest Lightning danced around her body, engulfing Lightning in warmth. The wisp then danced around up Lightning's right arm. Out of instinct, she raised her hand up and soon the wisp stopped right in her hand before dissipating. The light that was nearest to Cloud just floated in front of him. The wisp slowly approached him and floated around him as if inspecting the blonde while Cloud began to follow the wisp before him. When the wisp finaly stopped, it bounced up and down excitedly before shooting into Cloud's chest.

When all the wisps had entered everyone's chest, Cosmos opened her eyes and spoke to her warriors telepathically.

'_You must defeat the god of discord. Stop Chaos and end this conflict. Within each of you is a piece of my power. When it is tempered by your own will, it shall coalesce into a crystal that shall give you strength to rival that of my own and Chaos's.'_

All nodded to Cosmos before running off into their groups they had formed after a while to find their crystals. The only ones left near Cosmos's throne were Cloud, Lightning and the Warrior of Light. Soon, they as well turned and left to find their crystals.

* * *

"A risky gamble Cosmos," a voice from nowhere spoke when all of the goddess's warriors had left Order's Sanctuary. "You are defying your role in the cycles. I am quite surprised that none of your warriors realized that they are stuck in an endless cycle, though I believe the situation caused by the defector was enough to hold their attention."

"Who are you?" Cosmos asked as she spread her senses out to find the owner of the voice. 'I cannot feel this person at all, whoever it is.'

"That is none of your concern at this moment Cosmos. Just know that I shall be your last line of defense," the voice replied.

"At least… tell me your name. You must be a traveler of the Rift, for only those who have traversed that expanse have grown to the level of the gods. I cannot even sense your presence." Cosmos asked.

A long pause seemed to be drawn out before a small portal was opened up and a black cloaked figure with two swords strapped to its waist emerged from it, with the portal dissipating into the air. A giant wave of both malevolent and benevolent power soon crashed down onto the land, but only for a second before it simply vanished. Cosmos's eyes widened as she beheld the figure before her and saw a smirk stretch across the figures face.

"My name is Soren, milady."

_A massive conflict the likes of which have not been seen since the first cycle  
__Shall occur  
__Only the next conflict shall outsize this one  
__Though this journey shall sway the tides of the next conflict  
__And the fate of this world_

* * *

**Notes: None… other than the fact that my summer break is occurring as we speak (read).**

**...**

**Actualy, there is something I forgot... an Omake!**

* * *

**Omake: Embarassing videos**

**Soren: *giggling like a maniac***

**Envoy: Oh no...**

**Soren: Oh yes! I finally found that video!**

***Lightning and Cloud enter into the lounge, as well as every other final fantasy and kingdom hearts character***

**Lightning: Found what?**

**Envoy: Nothin-!**

**Soren: This! *hits display to flat screen. A video pops up with Tifa, Aerith and Lightning in. Soren laughs madly as the video plays***

**(3 minutes and 46 seconds later)**

**Lightning: I thought I burned that damn thing!**

**Aerith: Oh my!**

**Tifa: Oh boy!**

***Every male final fantasy character, save for the Warrior of Light, Firion, Luneth, Cecil, Bartz, Cloud, Squall and Vaan are on the floor with a massive nosebleed***

**Squall: Did I just... see that?**

**Cloud: *blushing while looking in any direction other than Claire***

**Zack: *on the floor* Rawr!**

**Envoy: *facepalm* Did you have to?**

**Soren: *giggles* Yes! And I also did this! *hits another button and displays the title for this video and two others***

**Lightning: NO!**

**Soren: Too late!**

**Videos:**

**Lightning raeps Cloud  
Cloud raeps Lightning  
Dissidia [MMD] Bakunyu Sangokushi - Bakunyumorion**

**Lightning: DID YOU HAVE TO SHOW THEM THE FIRST TWO TITLES YOU IDIOT!**

**Cloud: Uh-oh.**

**Soren: Nyahahahah!**

**Envoy: Cut the reel!**

***We inturrept this omake and will return at a later date***

**BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!**

* * *

**Read and review.**


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